Meat Market & Deli
Now QvoilobI* from Monlreol
SMOKED MEAT
• Brisket
* Smokies • Spices
and much morel
Specializing In European Cuts
Fresh Poultry • Fresh Italian Sausage Groceries • Freezer Beef Gift Baskets • Party trays
Prepared Foods Wholesale & Retail Pricing Free Range Products
I With this ad, I receive I your purchase
10
%
OFF
Mon - Thu: 8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Fri: 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. Sat; 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sun: 10 a.m. -2:30 p.m. Closed Sundays in July and August
604-291-9373
4156 East Hastings St., Bumaby www.cioffIsmeatdeli.com
Women, Wisdom & Wealth
Lynne Zlotnik-Nickford
Creating a Roadmap for Women"
Financial Specialist
♦To Educate ♦To Empower ♦To Enrich
Women will face more complex financial issues as they mature. Women need to know that their future will be secure.
Call to set up your private appointment. 604^88-7208 • lnickf@zlc.net
ZLOTNIK, i AMB is: COMI'ANY
-.1. I ^riti. I'i.ii'iiiii:: Wt.ilih M-in.iL:^ nuiit .inJ Kint\-niint I'l.inninL: "■I i'.uk ri 1... ..... i.irJ Nrf. > t. \ ,i;K<Hi\.t. V.A . \ <A 2\s
SALARI
Fine Persian Carpets Ltd.
We have an Exquisite Selection of both formal and nomadic carpets as well as some collectors items, including square and round pieces, and carpets of uncommon dimensions.
• Non-slip underlay for hard and carpeted surfaces • Expert Hand Washing • Restoration • Appraisals • Trade-Ins
604-261-3555
2033 West 41st Ave., Kerrisdale
Monday to Saturday 10am to S:30pm • Sunday By Appointment WWWJ5alari.com
Comedy's twins draw laughs
BAILA LAZARUS EDITOR
Those theatre lovers who enjoy a good Shakespearean misfcJten-identity plot will get more than their fill at this year's Bard on the Beach. Not only docs The Comedy of Errors offer the standard ri^t-pcr-son-in-the-wrong-placc scenario, it dishes up two sets of identical twins where each set has the same names.
So you have Antipholus of Syracuse looking for his long-lost brother, Antipholus of Ephesus; while their servants, Dromio of Syracuse and Dromio of Ephesxis are in search of each other as well. Confusion is the result as Antipholus of one region connects with "his" servant I&omio who is actually irom the other region.
Needless to say, having two sets of twins where each twin has the same name as his brother, makes for easy mistaken-identity gags. In one scene, Antipholus of Syracuse gives some gold to one Dromio but when the other Dromio appears claiming no knowledge of the gold, Antipholus is frantic. In another, a "greasy" kitchen maid mistakes Dromio of Syracuse (who has less than no interest in her) for her beloved Dromio of Ephesus. What follows is an hilarious ac-coimt of the incident by Dromio of Syracuse in which he describes all the countries he found in Nell's "rotund" body.
Throughout the play, various permutations of mis-
Moya O'Connell (Luciana) Is shocked by the advances of Alex Ferguson (Antipholus), who she thinks is her brother-in-law In The Comedy of Errors.
taken identity are used to increase the characters'confusion and advance the plot. The married Adriana believes her husband, Antipholus of Ephesus, to be crazy after she has dinner with Antipholus of Syracuse, thinking 1 that it's her real I husband, only to have the real husband claim he has no knowledge of ever dining with her. Luciana's sister thinks her brother-in-law is making a pass at her, when if s really Antipholus of Syracuse who's the culprit.
The show continues in the same vein with more and more characters being drawn into the mix of puzzlement and exasperation. The stress in each of the characters grows xmtil two of the four twins are bound and put in a dark room to cure them of their derangement. (The only grave note in an otherwise comical
t
farce.) Of course, as in all of the Bard's work, the characters don't remain in their state of bewilderment; all is revealed in the typical Shakespearean way.
But "Who's on First?" comedy has its limits and, often, such writing alone isn't enou^ to garner a laugh. Thankfully, Allan Zinyk, playing Dromio of Syracuse, takes on the role of a hapless jester (one in every I Shakespeare-I an comedy), drawing belly laughs from the audience.
Other strong performances come from Alex Ferguson as Antipholus of Syracuse and David Mackay as Dromio of Ephesus. The Jewish community's own Rebecca Auerbach is also in the play as the parlormaid Luce.
Comedy isn't the only thing that makes this play endearing. Running alongside the plot of mistaken identity is the theme of finding lost loves or new ones. While we smile at the characters' misfortunes of communication, ultimately, we begin to care that these lost souls will find each other (and especially that the kitchen maid, Nell, will be re-
united with the right Dromio).
A few drawbacks do exist in this play, which happens to be Shakespeare's shortest: first, there's a little more scatalogical humor than normal for Bard writing and, second, Antipholus of Ephesus (or maybe it was Antipholus of Syracuse?) seems to recognize early on in the play the possibility of his twin being alive and the nature of the whole perplexity suddenly dawns on him, but he does nothing about it and seemingly goes about his business as if the possibility never occurred to him. Of course, this helps make the play last for longer than 20 minutes but it's a little bewildering why the moment exists at all.
Regular attendees of Bard on the Beach will be surprised to see the barest stage ever to be found under the white and red tent at Vanier Park. Not a twig, branch, leaf or drape decorates the stage. On one hand, it keeps attention focused on the performance itself but there's nothing like a couple of ivy-clad, "stone" balconies in a Bard on the Beach production to help with the staging and it seemed to be missing.
The Comedy of Errors runs until Sept. 20 at Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival in Vanier Park. Tickets are $16-$27. For information, call 604-739-0559. Also presented this year are The Merchant of Venice, Mark Leircn-Young's Shylock and Pericles, Prince of Tyre. □